Good evening, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) sports fans!!
Many of you might not have heard of the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup. It is an award that honors institutions maintaining broad-based athletics programs success in many sports (including male and female sports). The Directors’ Cup , founded by the National Association of College Directors of Athletics and USA Today, begin in 1993-1994 for NCAA Division I athletics. In 1995-96, it was expanded to include Division II, III and the NAIA. Each institution is awarded points in a pre-determined number of sports for men and women. The overall champion is the institution that records the highest number of points in their division’s Directors’ Cup standings. For NCAA Division I, there are 20 sports included (ten men’s and ten women’s).
The ACC has had a very good run this year in the Directors’ Cup Standings. The May 29, 2014 rankings showed that Duke was a substantial mover. The Blue Devils moved from tenth in the final winter rankings second with 1024.50 points as a result of winning the national championship in both women’s golf and men’s lacrosse. Duke also finished fifth in both women’s lacrosse and women’s tennis and 17th in men’s tennis.
The ACC has four institutions ranked in the top 10. Duke is second, Notre Dame is fifth, North Carolina is sixth and Virginia is seventh. The ACC also had several institutions make the top 80, including Florida State (at 13th), Maryland (at 25th), NC State (at 32nd), Virginia Tech (at 41st), Syracuse (at 43rd), Boston College (at 54th), Clemson (at 63rd), Wake Forest (at 64th), Miami (at 68th), and Pittsburgh (at 78th). Incoming member Louisville was at 29.
All in all – the ACC has done very well – and member institutions should be proud of the conference’s performance.
The next Division I spring standings will be released on Tuesday, June 10, 2014.
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